Posted on 10/06/2001 11:52:59 AM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
LANTANA, Fla. (AP) - Relatives of a Florida man who contracted a fatal case of anthrax are being given antibiotics as a precaution and the man's co-workers have been tested and cleared, health authorities said Saturday.
Investigators are awaiting test results from soil and other specimens as they try to learn how 63-year-old Bob Stevens contracted the rare and extremely lethal inhaled form of the disease. He died Friday.
More than 50 health and law enforcement officials have fanned out across Palm Beach County to track his movements over the past two months and look for other possible cases.
"We have a long chronology of common activities we need to pursue," state epidemiologist Dr. Steven Wiersma said Saturday. "We don't have any really hot leads at this time."
No other cases of anthrax have been reported in the area. Wiersma said several of Stevens' co-workers at the supermarket tabloid The Sun have been tested, but results were negative. Also, as a precaution, close family members are being treated with antibiotics.
Officials have said there is no evidence that Stevens was the victim of terrorism. Wiersma said tests of Stevens' blood further confirmed that belief because the anthrax in the sample responded to penicillin. Anthrax developed by some countries as a biological weapon could be resistant to the antibiotic, he said.
The Sept. 11 hijackings have put many people on edge about a bioterrorism threat.
Officials believe Stevens contracted anthrax naturally in Florida. The disease can be contracted from farm animals or soil, though the bacterium is not normally found among wildlife or livestock in the state. Stevens was described as an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and gardening.
Officials are also investigating in North Carolina, where Stevens visited last month, but said the disease also is rare among animals in that state.
Investigators have cast a wide net in their search in Florida.
County medical examiners are looking over any unexplained deaths, but have not found any cases connected to anthrax. Veterinarians have been told to be on alert for animals who might have the disease, but none have turned up.
Investigators also are visiting restaurants, parks and other locations he frequented or even visited casually, Wiersma said.
Samples have been sent to labs in Miami or Jacksonville or to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Results could take days.
Only 18 inhalation cases in the United States were documented in the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California. The last anthrax case in Florida was in 1974, according to the state health department.
Stevens lived on the same street in this quiet West Palm Beach suburb for 23 years. He and his wife raised their four children, now adults, and British-born Stevens - who became a U.S. citizen - raised his American flag on holidays.
As word of his death spread through the community Friday evening, a worker at a nearly nursery school stopped by his home to drop off cards made by preschool children.
Stevens loved fishing, neighbors said, and would take his next-door-neighbor's 10-year-old boy fishing twice a month.
"It just seems like a horrible dream that you can't wake up from," said neighbor Mary Crandell, whose granddaughter had taken drawing lessons from Stevens for years.
"She's really outgoing and I contribute that to him," Crandell said. "He always had time for her."
AP-ES-10-06-01 1429EDT
Agreed. But, on reflection, I doesn't seem likely that they would have "wasted" their anthrax on some out-of-the-way town in Florida. That was just where they happened to live and practice for the 9/11 attack. It seems far more likely that this was a test or accidental spill. Given the long incubation period, who better to test the anthrax than the men slated to die in the attack?
My guess is that we will see anthrax attacks on high-profile targets as soon as this war ramps up to the next level.
If you do not want to discuss why did you open this thread?LOL that you insinuate you could be a government shrill.You must have alot of time on your hands.
9785jjm87709mye,0-80t990,90r890e8r,e90fe8888_*$
Besides...I turned the government shrill tags off on post one...so I know you ain't one. Quit acting like everyones name is Bubba, Bubba.
< / Government Shrill >
People have to learn to see this goosestepping for what it is, and remain firm and confident of the truth.
The fake confidence of the supportors of EVIL is only meant to make good people doubt what they see.
And when people see Reno and Hillary, they see EVIL.
Even if it's wearing lipstick.
You have no way of knowing that. If you're just going to panic, you're not doing anyone any good. If fact, you're helping the terrorists.
It would be easy to give it to one person. It would/will be very difficult to give it to more than ten or so at a time. One thing I thought of - you hand someone a bouquet of flowers and have sprayed the top with spores. Most of us stick our nose into flowers and take a deep breath. That's a very effective way to get a lot of spores into someone's respiratory system.
And that is what you would need. A lot delivered at once, for someone to get sick. If we're walking along a street and someone sprays it from a rooftop, we're not going to get sick. They tried this in Japan and it didn't work. We have these nose hairs which are going to catch a lot of the spores and keep them from being inhaled. A few inhaled is not going to be enough.
Anyway I think this man did get anthrax from a terrorist source. I don't believe they have the ability to engineer the bug to make it penicillin resistant and I don't think they would try - inhalation anthrax is typically deadly no matter what antibiotic is effective, so why bother to make it resistant?
I also think they just gave it to one person, because that is about all they can manage, and because it was one heck of an effective scare for us. Scaring us is what they are about.
He is/was sick or had some symptoms which alerted them. They would not hesitate to put him on Cipro as a safety measure. They gave him Cipro and now they are periodically testing his blood for antibodies to anthrax. So far he has not shown an immune response to anthrax. Everyone differs in their immune response. Sometimes it takes 2-3 weeks for a person to develop measurable antibodies to a bug.
Once they put him on Cipro this is the only way they have to try to determine if he was exposed. It will be interesting to see if they ever announce anything more about it.
This is my take from a medical background, btw.
Since you have raised the spectre, do some critical thinking of your own.
Have any of the employees at that airfield been ill?
Has anybody else from that area been ill?
If the answer to these questions is "no", then maybe there is nothing to it.
Congratulations on the birth of another "Big Government" conservative.
I, like Eagle Eye, used to think that there was entirely too much over-reaction to this story. But your persistent nagging has caused me to change my mind.
We are obviously currently under heavy chemical and biological attack. (Remember, the "yellow" tanker is still missing in Colorado!) We cannot count on the news media, local or national, to tell us the truth because as everybody knows they are just shilling for whatever administration is in charge.
Retreat to your houses and seal yourselves inside your "safe" rooms. Bring extra plastic sheeting and duct tape so you can keep your "safe" room tightly sealed. Also be sure to stock your "safe" room with plenty of food, $5.00/gallon designer bottled water, a radio, batteries, and any other leftover Y2K stuff you have lying around your house. To be extra safe and wear your surplus gas mask. (Remember to close your eyes tightly and hold your breath when you remove the mask to change the filters.)
Remain in your "safe" room and monitor your radio. Don't come out of your "safe" room until it is safe to do so. Do not rely on the local or national media to tell you when it is safe to do so, because they won't tell you the truth!
Good luck.
Or an unfortunate, but naturally contracted case. Maybe one of the 18 or 19 total recorded cases in the next century.
< / paranoia >
You convinced me to turn these tags on...
< Move along pay no attention man behind the curtain >
The CDC and experts can't explain this, and you can?
24/7!!! How many extra cartridges do you have anyway?
Boy are you going to have a rash from having that rubber mask on all the time!
...IT DID...!
...News Reports came out last night that America's Center for Disease Control (CDC) had evacuated the Headquarters in Florida of America Media, Inc to check for ANTHRAX and is still doing so as we speak today. They are also checking out Family Members of SUN Magazine ANTHRAX Victim BOB STEVENS as well as all Staffers who worked in his SUN Magazine Office there and their Families.
...Turns out this one Office is shared with America Media, Inc's other two Tabloids it owns that have been doing an excellent job in changing the minds of the American People about JESSE JACKSON, GARY CONDIT, HILLARY CLINTON, JANET RENO and OSAMA BIN LADEN ...with their killer Investigative Reports that our American Mainstream News Media should have been doing all along for us ...but haven't been =
...The National ENQUIRER and STAR Magazines.
...Seems ANTHRAX has indeed struck at our Natiion's very real NEED TO KNOW about our Enemies Within.
...This is further discussed in the 2nd hour of today's ..'Faith, Family, Freedom with BOB DORNAN'.. National Talk Radio Show today on.. www.TalkRadioNetwork.com .. which also airs tape delayed in So. California 1-4pm PT on KPLS 830 AM Radio.
SEE Ya Later ...SEE Ya Then.
...IT DID...!
...News Reports came out last night that America's Center for Disease Control (CDC) had evacuated the Headquarters in Florida of America Media, Inc to check for ANTHRAX and is still doing so as we speak today. They are also checking out Family Members of SUN Magazine ANTHRAX Victim BOB STEVENS as well as all Staffers who worked in his SUN Magazine Office there and their Families. There just happens to be a Photo of a Sneering JANET RENO placed on Page 28's SUN Magazine Column that nails her for killing 82 Americans at WACO ..in the October 9, 2001 Issue now at your local Grocery Store Check-Out.
...Turns out this one Office is shared with America Media, Inc's other two Tabloids it owns that have been doing an excellent job in changing the minds of the American People about JESSE JACKSON, GARY CONDIT, HILLARY CLINTON, JANET RENO and OSAMA BIN LADEN ...with their killer Investigative Reports that our American Mainstream News Media should have been doing all along for us ...but haven't been =
...The National ENQUIRER and STAR Magazines.
...Seems ANTHRAX has indeed struck at our Natiion's very real NEED TO KNOW about our Enemies Within...?
...This is further discussed in the 2nd hour of today's ..'Faith, Family, Freedom with BOB DORNAN'.. National Talk Radio Show today on.. www.TalkRadioNetwork.com .. which also airs tape delayed in So. California 1-4pm PT on KPLS 830 AM Radio.
SEE Ya Later ...SEE Ya Then.
I mean, let's face it...
"Scoop" an Anthrax breakout, no matter how small?
One will sell an awful lot of papers.
I'm going to await the conclusion of the FBI, CIA, NSA (& Lord knows whatever other law enforcement/intelligence agencies) discover at the conclusion of their investigation.
Which is being conducted right now & in ernest, I'm absolutely certain.
I don't believe in *coincidence(s)*; & neither do the pros.
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